Arkansas Times Firkin Fest preview

It's coming May 13. But what's a firkin?

Get ready for a new kind of beer festival for Arkansas. On Friday, May 13, the Arkansas Times holds the inaugural Firkin Fest, benefiting the Argenta Arts District. The event starts at 6 p.m. at Argenta Plaza, 520 Main St. in North Little Rock. Tickets are $35 in advance (via bit.ly/firkinfest16) or $40 at the door. That covers more than 15,000 samples of beer, music from talented local pop singer/songwriters Isaac Alexander and Jason Weinheimer, and food from eight local restaurants: Arkansas Ale House, Damgoode Pies, Old Chicago Pizza, Skinny J's, @ the Corner, Cafe Bossa Nova and Zaffino's by Nori.

For the uninitiated, a firkin is simply a unit of measurement describing a vessel containing cask-conditioned ale, or beer that has not been cold-filtered, pasteurized or carbonated. Firkins are often used by brewers to experiment with new flavor combinations — they take an established beer and add flavors that might range from fruits, nuts or berries to herbs, spices and coffee. This approach often leads to surprising results, which makes tapping the firkin all the more exciting.

click to enlarge

Bryan Moats

I recently attended a cask-conditioned ale class at Pulaski Technical College's fantastic classroom and brewery located in its Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute building. Students learned the history and process for packaging and serving traditional cask-conditioned ale from Mike Byrum of Fermentables and special guest Josiah Moody from Moody Brews. We also learned to fill casks with beer. We put a traditional English-style pale ale into three 5.2-gallon "pins" (smaller firkins) and conditioned these to serve at the festival, adding a little something different to each one.

You'll be able to taste these three variations and plenty more from not just local breweries, but breweries from across the country and as far away as Germany. It's a great chance to try some unique beers.

Due to the nature of firkins, the list that follows might change, but here's what I've been told at this point we can expect to find at the inaugural Arkansas Times Firkin Fest:

ABITA BREWING CO.

Located 30 miles north of New Orleans in Abita Springs, La., this regional favorite has grown to become the 15th largest craft brewery in the country.

Extra Hopped Shotgun Double IPA:

A version of Shotgun Double IPA that has extra hops added and is cask-conditioned. The beer is produced in the brewhouse, dry hopped, and aged in the same manner as Shotgun Double IPA. After aging, even more Citra, Centennial, Simcoe, Amarillo and Cascade hops are added to the cask.

Cask-Conditioned Citrus Louisiana Spiced Ale:

A cask-conditioned version of Louisiana Spiced Ale that has citrus peels added. The beer is produced in the brewhouse and aged in the same manner as Louisiana Spiced Ale. After aging, lemon and orange peels are added and the beer is cask-conditioned.

CARSON'S BREWING

Vanilla Coffee Brown Cow:

An American Brown Ale with real coffee and vanilla beans added.

CORE BREWING CO.

The Springdale-based brewery recently opened a pub in North Little Rock, adding to Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Springdale and Rogers locations as part of seemingly endless growth.

Jalapeño ESB:

Jalapeños are added during secondary fermentation and to the firkin as well.

DAMGOODE BREWS

Brewer Josh Quattlebaum, formerly of Boscos, now heads up Damgoode's River Market brewpub, which supplies beer to all the Damgoode locations.

Elderflower IPA:

A hop-forward Glacier Smash IPA with elderflowers added.

DIAMOND BEAR

One of Arkansas's oldest breweries, it's still going strong with a vibrant brewpub in North Little Rock.

Transportation Triple:

A tripel aged in bourbon barrels along with Arkansas grown strawberries added.

Passport Porter:

A medium-bodied vanilla porter.

THE DUDES' BREWING COMPANY

This Torrance, Calif.-based brewery specializes in unique takes on classic styles, which sounds like a recipe for success at Firkin Fest.

Dirty Bastard:

HACKER-PSCHORR

This Munich, Germany, brewery was created out of a merger between Hacker (founded in 1417) and Pschorr (founded in the late 1700s), so it knows a little something about brewing beer. No word on the details of its offering.

LAZY MAGNOLIA BREWING CO.

Mississippi's first package brewery since Prohibition, Lazy Magnolia is steadily expanding its reach throughout the South with beers like Southern Pecan, Lazy Saison, Southern Hop-spitality and Jefferson Stout.

Speaking of...

The Mortimer and Mimi Levitt Foundation, an organization that seeks to facilitate exposure to performing arts through the creation of "third places," is offering grants to up to 15 nonprofits in cities with populations less than 400,000 to launch their own free, outdoor Levitt Amp Music Series in 2017. /more/

Lawyers helping represent the named plaintiffs in the civil rights lawsuit failed against Sherwood over the way they fleece hot check defendants appeared in court this morning to ask a substitute judge to recuse himself, with an attorney for plaintiffs claiming Hamilton made comments praising Sherwood District Court Judge Milas "Butch" Hale III and said he hoped the civil suit would fail. /more/

The second Whole Foods in Arkansas opened recently to an eager crowd in Fayetteville. /more/

Craft Beer Cellar, the five-year-old Massachusetts-based craft beer store with 22 locations coast to coast and another 16 in the works, is in the process of opening their first outlet in Arkansas, at 120 Ouachita Avenue in Hot Springs. /more/

Most Shared

Next week a series of meetings on the use of technology to tackle global problems will be held in Little Rock by Club de Madrid — a coalition of more than 100 former democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world — and the P80 Group, a coalition of large public pension and sovereign wealth funds founded by Prince Charles to combat climate change. The conference will discuss deploying existing technologies to increase access to food, water, energy, clean environment, and medical care.

Plus, recipes from the Times staff.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) was on "Capitol View" on KARK, Channel 4, this morning, and among other things that will likely inspire you to yell at your computer screen, he said he expects someone in the legislature to file a bill to do ... something about changing the name of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

So fed up was young Edgar Welch of Salisbury, N.C., that Hillary Clinton was getting away with running a child-sex ring that he grabbed a couple of guns last Sunday, drove 360 miles to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., where Clinton was supposed to be holding the kids as sex slaves, and fired his AR-15 into the floor to clear the joint of pizza cravers and conduct his own investigation of the pedophilia syndicate of the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

There is almost nothing real about "reality TV." All but the dullest viewers understand that the dramatic twists and turns on shows like "The Bachelor" or "Celebrity Apprentice" are scripted in advance. More or less like professional wrestling, Donald Trump's previous claim to fame.